Tip 169: October 2022 – Flannel Board Nursery Rhymes
Website Educational Tip for Language and Literacy Development
Flannel board nursery rhymes stimulate imagination and improve the quality
of language. These inexpensive tools help children to concentrate for
longer periods of time and as they participate it encourages their language
and vocabulary development.
Research has found that young children learn most effectively through
concrete experiences. The following are three developmentally appropriate
activities in the domain of language and literacy from around the world
that adults can use with young children.
Infants: This Little Pig
(This is an English nursery rhyme)
This little pig went to market, this
little pig stayed home,
This little pig had roast beef; this little pig had none,
And this little pig cried, Wee – wee – wee – wee – wee all the way home!
Activity: To help an infant learn this rhyme, the adult should do it on the
infant’s fingers first. Doing this activity while saying the rhyme will
help infants to remember it. Make a flannel story using the five pigs and
let the infant put the pieces on the board while you repeat the rhyme.
Moral: Take care of family and friends, don’t be a pig thinking
only of yourself.
Toddlers:Jack and Jill
(This is a French rhyme about Louie 16th & Marie Antoinette)
Jack and Jill went up the hill, to fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown, and Jill came tumbling after.
Activity: Make the flannel story and give the toddler the pieces to put on the
board while you tell the nursery rhyme story. Help the toddler learn the
rhyme by rolling around on the floor. This helps to develop balance and
strengthens large motor skills. It also helps to develop spatial
relationships such as up and down. Make a wall experience chart of the
rhyme using the rebus technique where pictures replace some of the words.
Find magazine pictures of a boy (Jack), a girl (Jill), a hill, a well, a
pail of water, Jack’s crown.
Moral: Always be careful wherever you are – Accidents can happen.
Preschoolers: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
(This is an English nursery rhyme)
1. Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky.
2. When the blazing sun is gone, when it nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light twinkle, twinkle all the night.
3. Then the traveler in the dark, thanks you for your little spark,
He could not see which way to go, if you did not twinkle so.
4. In the dark blue sky you keep, and often through my curtain peep,
For you never shut your eye, till the sun is in they sky.
5. As your bright and tiny spark, lights the traveler in the dark,
Through I know not what you are twinkle, twinkle little star.
Activity: Tape a star on a child’s shirts, and have the child lay on the floor.
Then have the child pretend the room is the sky and the child is a star.
Have them pull their arms and legs close to their tummies then push them
out as far as they can go while singing the rhyme. Have them then put their
arms up high and wiggle their fingers like shining stars. Make a “Shinning
Star” poster, and when the child does something nice for someone else,
their name on a star gets put on the poster as a shinning example of
kindness.
Moral: You are a star when you are kind to others.
A child’s mind is not a container to be filled, but rather a fire to be
kindled.
(Chinese Proverb)
